Winter, Gradients, Thermostats etc.

[marty.warwick]

Okay folks, It's getting colder each day here, and though throughout most of the year the temperatures in the T-Mans Viv are perfecto; we do live in an old house and it does get cold sometimes.

Now the warm side is perfect and I don't worry about it. but the cool side, along with the rest of the house, has trouble regulating. Should I try to somehow warm up the cool side to what it should be?

I was thinking at one point; Trav instinctively moves about regulating his temperature, so even the cool side is a bit too cool, he would still move around cooling and heating up as he wishes, because the warm side is still good. So maybe he'll be fine, he has been, no problem digesting or anything.
I'm thinking, as long as he gets the heat, he can cool down wherever he wants.

I'm not sure if that made sense... But tell me what you think.

Oh, I also remembered I have a smaller heat mat. Which at first I thought, 'Oh I could put that on the cool side to make up for what it's losing.
But I only have the one thermostat. So THIS made me think, maybe I could plug an extension into the thermostat so I run both of them? I wouldn't do it if I knew I shouldn't. But there's nothing saying I shouldn't. The thermostat simply turns things on and off when the the sensor reaches the temperature I set.

That's where I hit another snag.

The sensor is on the warm side (obviously) so the heat mat heats stays at a snug 83-84. My problem would be if I had two heat mats, they would *both* be heating to those temperatures, resulting in one big warm side. Mind you, the other mat is smaller so in total about just less than three quarters of the Viv floor would be heated. Still leaving a slight cool area.

Anyway, I'm just tossing out ideas now. Speaking my mind.

 

[PnyKlr]

I would think that if you had something for your snake to climb on the warm side, you'd be offering even more temperature options.

 

[zwyatt]

Why kind of cool temps are you talking about? I've observed some pretty cool temps in my rack before and didn't notice any problems.

Being in a college-type apartment and not wanting to pay a fortune for our electric bill we never turned the heat up too high last winter. The cool side of my tubs in the rack got down fairly low sometimes. Well, to me, low-mid 60s is pretty cool. But I never observed any problems. However, we had some really cold days last year, and I did eventually have to put a small space heater in my room to keep the cool side temps up. Hopefully my rambling has helped you out in some way!

 

[marty.warwick]

I would think that if you had something for your snake to climb on the warm side, you'd be offering even more temperature options.

Good thinking, there are some things to climb in the viv, I forgot that he could go *up* to cool off, too.

Thanks, Zach, it did help to know that you never ran into any problems .
The cool temperatures are usually about 74ish throughout the year, but lately it's getting as low as 62-3. But like you, I've not seen any problems.
I think he'll be fine as long as he can get the heat, he can cool off wherever, he'll just probably spend a bit more time on the warm side, he'll just go where he's comfortable I guess. I may have to use a space heater in December/January but I think for now he'll be good.
Cheers for the input.